Jane Fellows

Ostomy pouch wear time in the United States.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine average pouch wear times of persons with an ostomy living in the United States. SUBJECTS AND SETTING In this national survey, subjects were identified by ostomy nurses and through ostomy support groups in the United States. Participants responding to a survey represented all 6 geographic regions of the United States identified by US Bureau of Census. DESIGN AND PROCEDURE Persons with colostomies, ileostomies, and urostomies were queried concerning their average pouch wear time. RESULTS The mean wear time for ostomy pouches in the United States is 4.8 days. Persons with urostomies reported an average wear time of 5.02 days (SD = 1.74), those with ileostomies reported 5.01 days (SD = 2.25), and those with colostomies reported an average of 4.55 days (SD = 2.08). CONCLUSIONS This study is the first of its kind to utilize a large, national sample to determine average wear time of ostomy pouches. Further research is needed to establish a benchmark for ostomy pouch wear time in the United States and to determine what factors affect wear time.

Ostomy: general principles of management and patient teaching.

Jane Fellows, RN, MSN, CWOCN, Ostomy Clinical Nurse Specialist, Duke University Health System, Durham, North Carolina. Corresponding author: Jane Fellows, RN, MSN, CWOCN, Duke University Health System, Box 3677, DUMC, Durham NC 27710 (jane.fellows@duke.edu). The questions on the certification examination for Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing come from the content outline found in the WOC Examination Handbook. The handbook is available for viewing on the Wound, Ostomy, Continence Nursing Certification Board Web site at www.wocncb.org. On the ostomy portion of the outline, topic B is general principles of management and patient teaching. Next to this heading is the number (23), which means that there are 23 questions on the examination about management of an ostomy and patient teaching. There will be recall, application, and analysis-level questions. Below are examples of the types of questions that could be included in this portion of the examination.